In a February 15 Washington Times op-ed, Family Research Council's Christopher Gacek compared the 2012 presidential election to the Battle of Gettysburg, writing: "Like that great battle, our Gettysburg may determine whether a nation created in liberty and representing the people can endure. Either the American people will begin to dismantle the statist juggernaut they have allowed to thrive, or it will devour us." Gacek further compared Obama's re-election bid to Pickett's Charge.

From Gacek's op-ed:

Several months after the historic battle in the fields of southeastern Pennsylvania concluded, President Lincoln addressed a somber gathering in Gettysburg on Nov. 19, 1863.

He noted that the United States was “a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” He then offered his assessment that the great war was “testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”

I believe we face such a pivotal period today. Our Gettysburg will last almost two years - until Election Day in 2012. Like that great battle, our Gettysburg may determine whether a nation created in liberty and representing the people can endure. Either the American people will begin to dismantle the statist juggernaut they have allowed to thrive, or it will devour us.

[...]

As at Gettysburg, this Tea Party House of Representatives must fight aggressively to defend the constitutional government established in 1789. Like Gettysburg, it is a clash that will determine in large part whether a nation founded upon the principle of liberty and representative constitutionalism will survive. Critical to this victory will be defeating the Pickett's Charge of Mr. Obama's re-election bid.